Wabash Expects 300 for Big Bash

Wabash will welcome back approximately 300 alumni and members of their families for the 2010 Big Bash Reunion Weekend, which begins Friday and concludes on Sunday.

The signature event of the weekend occurs Friday night when over 50 members of the Class of 1960 will receive their 50th reunion medallions from College President Pat White.

The Class of ’60 has been well-served by its Class Agent, Charlie Quillin, and its Reunion Chair, Dick Kite. The duo have worked within the Big Bash schedule — and added a few special events — to make it a memorable weekend for the 50th reunion class.

Two members of the class, Vic Hasler and Omar Robinson, will present colloquia sessions; there will be a special reception hosted by President White and his wife, Chris; the class will gather in the Chapel to memorialize lost classmates; and John Bachmann has created a special commemorative gift for each returning member of the class.

“I’m thrilled with the great turnout by the 50th reunion class and couldn’t be happier with Dick Kite, who has worked so tirelessly to put together the weekend,” said Tom Runge ’71, Director of Alumni and Parent Relations.

Big Bash officially starts with alumni signing the Alumni Register at 8 a.m. Friday morning. The Wally Wabash Golf Outing will be held at Rock Ridge Golf Course starting at 10 a.m. Campus tours will be given at various times during the day.

Scattered throughout the weekend are alumni-led teaching and learning sessions called Big Bash Colloquia. A dozen alumni back for the Bash will talk on topics as varied as Dean Reynolds’ career in network news to starting a brewery to opening a bed and breakfast.

For the third straight year, alumni will be asked to stop by the Lilly Library to take part in the Scarlet Yarns video history project. Media Center staff will be on hand to videotape alumni telling their favorite Wabash stories.

The interviews will be stored in the archives, used to create a commemorative DVD from the weekend, and excerpted in the summer issue of Wabash Magazine.

The big event Friday is the Big Bash Reunion Banquet, where all returning alumni will gather for a festive evening, highlighted by the presentation of medallions to the Class of 1960.

“This should be a great weekend at Wabash,” said Runge. “Every year our favorite part is, of course, seeing all the smiles and happy faces. We have these guys who were reluctant to come to their reunion, but once they get back on campus and see how much has stayed the same and how much has changed, they are just overwhelmed with emotions.”

Saturday kicks off with the “Fun Run” for those who want to get the lead out after Friday’s banquet.

At 11 a.m., all reunion alumni gather on the steps of the Chapel to re-enact Chapel Sing in what has become a Big Bash tradition. During the Alumni Chapel Sing, each class bands together to sing the longest (and best) college fight song in the nation. After every class has competed, all of the alumni gather together to sing “Old Wabash” one final time.

On Saturday night, each class will have its own reception and dinner — an opportunity for members to get reacquainted with one another and update each other on the milestones of their lives.

Awards are presented Sunday at the Big Bash Awards Brunch. Special awards are presented for best Big Bash Reunion attendance, hardest working class agents, and the Robinson-Ragan Award for the Alumni Chapel Sing competition.

“For me personally, one of the great things about Big Bash is the ‘almost live’ coverage we provide on the website,” Runge added. “Every year we have guys who for one reason or another can’t make it back to Big Bash. And every year they go to our website to see the photos and read the stories, and they tell me it was ‘almost like being there in person.’”

A complete schedule for Big Bash follows:

Friday, June 4, 2010

8:00 a.m. — 5:00 p.m. - Registration in Chadwick Court- Allen Center. Stop by Chadwick Court for latest Big Bash information. There you’ll have the opportunity to sign the Alumni Register, which is important for your class as it competes for the attendance awards. After registration, meet your classmates for refreshments in the Scarlet Inn and get the latest Wabash gear in the College Bookstore.

11:00 a.m. — 11:45 a.m. - Colloquium: History in Full Bloom. Vic Hasler ’60 and his wife Karen Cochran have renovated a historic Johnson County rural home and its gardens which now appear on the National Register of Historic Places and are also featured in 99 Historic Homes of Indiana: A Look Inside published by Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana. They will discuss their home and gardens and show us photos of their shared work.

1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. - Tommy's Scarlet Nickel. TWR and other beverages can be had at Tommy's Scarlet Nickel, a temporary establishment right here on campus. Meet your classmates for a drink under the tent north of the Allen Center entrance.

1:00 p.m. — 1:45 p.m. - Colloquium: Small Business in America, the Engine that Drives Our Economy. Henry O’Connell ’75, CEO and President of Milenniata, a new and innovative company that has developed a digital storage medium that will remain readable and reliable for up to 1000 years, will reflect on establishing a high-tech business and being an entrepreneur in today’s economic environment.

1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. - Scarlet Yarns: Your Wabash in Story and Song in the Robert T. Ramsay Jr. Archival Center in Lilly Library.

2:00 p.m. — 2:45 p.m. - Colloquium: What's New About the News? D. Todd Moore ’80, Administrative Editor of the Indianapolis Star, brings us his view of what’s happening with city newspapers, and what we might expect in the future.

2:00 p.m. — 2:45 p.m. - Colloquium: CSI: Truth or Crap? The University of New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator trains more forensic scientists than any other facility across the U.S. each year, except for New York. Dr. Ross Zumwalt ’65, the Chief Medical Investigator for the State of New Mexico and Professor of Pathology at UNM School of Medicine, will dissect truth from the fictional television world of medical examiners.

3:00 p.m. — 3:45 p.m. - Colloquium: Putting the Doctors in Charge Again: Improving Regional Health Care in the Next Decade. Drs. Todd Rowland '85, Executive Director, HealthLINC, Bloomington, IN and Phil Dulberger '85, Clarian Quality Partners, Indianapolis are working together to improve healthcare in Indiana through regional approaches and clinical integration. They will explain how these practices are influencing and improving Indiana health care.

4:00 p.m. — 4:45 p.m. - Colloquium: Wabash College Curriculum: Continuity and Change. Dr. Gary Phillips, Dean of the College, will discuss some of the proposals for change in the college curriculum currently under discussion among faculty, placing them in historical context of how curriculum evolves over generations and how Wabash hopes to deal with some of the financial challenges facing us.

5:00 p.m. — 6:00 p.m. - Reunion Reception in the Knowling Fieldhouse.

6:00 p.m. — 8:00 p.m. - Big Bash Banquet in Knowling Fieldhouse. President Pat White will present the class of 1960 with their 50th reunion medallions and make a few brief comments.

10:00 a.m. - 10:45 a.m. - Colloquium: Planning for A Successful Retirement. Planning your retirement takes careful attention to detail, and for most, some special skills from qualified professionals. Wabash has lined up an all-star panel including an accountant, an estate planning attorney, a financial advisor, and two investment brokers to answer your questions and send you home with some solid answers. Bring your questions about how to provide for loved ones, lower taxes, increase income, transfer assets, and provide for charitable interests.

10:00 a.m. - 10:45 a.m. - Colloquium: The Art Major In The Real World. Shay Atkinson ’05 shares stories from his graduation to his current work at Harper College and Saint Joseph’s College – a primer on trying to get established in the art world.

11:00 a.m. - Alumni Chapel Sing on the Chapel Steps.

12:00 p.m. - Picnic Lunch in the Knowling Fieldhouse.

1:00 p.m. — 1:30 p.m. - Class Photographs. Starting with the Class of 1960, class reunion photographs will be taken every three minutes in the visiting stands of Hollett Stadium. Bring your spouse or partner as two photos of each class, with and without spouses, will be taken.

1:00 p.m. — Class of 1960

1:03 p.m. — Class of 1965

1:06 p.m. — Class of 1970

1:09 p.m. — Class of 1975

1:12 p.m. — Class of 1980

1:15 p.m. — Class of 1985

1:18 p.m. — Class of 1990

1:21 p.m. — Class of 1995

1:24 p.m. — Class of 2000

1:27 p.m. — Class of 2005

1:30 p.m. — Other Classes

1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. - Tommy's Scarlet Nickel is open under the tent north of the Allen Center entrance.

2:00 p.m. — 2:45 p.m. - Colloquium: Inside Today's News. Dean Reynolds ’70, CBS News correspondent and recipient of three Emmy Awards, brings us highlights from 39 years of reporting on politics and world news, including his most recent work on the Toyota recall.

3:00 p.m. — 3:45 p.m. - Colloquium: The Richest People in the World are Closet Truckers. James Ray ’95 will implausibly connect the human’s defeat of Neanderthals to Standard Oil’s rise as the most powerful corporation in the world to the recent success of globalized companies like Walmart, Apple, and Google. The success of each is unified by one common theme – their leaders are really “closet truckers” (also known as distribution experts). The talk will prove valuable to anyone with entrepreneurial tendencies in today’s increasingly global market.

5:30 p.m. - Reunion Receptions and Dinners. Each reunion class will have its own private reception and dinner catered by Bon Appetit. You’ll go entirely at your own pace and will have lots of time after dinner to reminisce, relive old memories, and tell lies. Dinners will begin at 6:15 p.m. and locations will be noted in your registration packets.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

8:00 a.m. - Catholic Mass in the Pioneer Chapel. Fr. David Hellmann, St. Bernard Catholic Church